The origins of this
particular weapon are unusual, since it
was designed by A. Sudarev at Leningrad
in 1942 when the city was under actual
blockade by the Germans. Arms were in
short supply and as none could be
brought in it became necessary to
improvise from local resources. The new
gun, originally known as the Russian PPS
42, was therefore made in the city
itself, so that weapons coming off the
production line were liable to be used
in action after a matter of hours.

As was to be expected the gun was made
of stampings, using any suitable grade
of metal, and was held together by
riveting, welding and pinning.
Nevertheless it was not only cheap but
it turned out to be effective. It worked
on the usual simple blowback system and
would only fire automatic; perhaps its
oddest feature was its semi circular
compensator, which helped it to keep its
muzzle down but increased blast
considerably. This was followed by the
PPS-43, modified and improved by the
same engineer who had been responsible
for the earlier model. Its most unusual
feature was was that it had not separate
extractor in the normal sense of the
word. The bolt moved backwards and
forwards along a guide rod which was of
such a length that as the bolt came back
with the empty case, the end of the rod
caught it a sharp blow and knocked it
clear.

After the Chinese revolution of 1949,
the Soviet Union naturally supplied its
new ally with a considerable quantity of
arms including large numbers of the
PPS-43, and by 1953 the Chinese had
begun large-scale manufacture of these
weapons, virtually unchanged in
appearance from the Russian prototypes.
The only way in which it can be
distinguished is by the fact that the
plastic pistol grips often bear a large
letter K in a central design. This,
however, is by no means universal and
other designs, including a diamond, may
be found. The gun is still often found
in South East Asia.